Pages

Monday, 20 July 2015

Write, submit, walk the dog, repeat

My favourite bridge, from the opposite direction

I'm sure I only closed my eyes for a moment, and now it's July! I went away for the weekend last week, and it seems to have thrown me completely out of sync. It was a very warm weekend, and I didn't sleep well, and I was on the go the whole time.

While I was away, I decided to write some short stories. So I hunted out a new notebook and wrote. But they're all really daft and will need a lot of work to get them up to standard.

I've been submitting my first almost-novel (it's only a little bit short) to agents. Nothing's happening there yet, but it's early days. Although I woke up in a hot sweat last night when I realised I hadn't added contact details to the latest attachment I submitted, so all they have is my email - no address or phone number or anything - assuming my email and the attachments don't get separated. I did it wrong! So very wrong!

And finally, I'm rewriting one of my oldest stories, changing it from 3rd person/past tense to 1st person/present tense. I've had to cut 1000 words off the first draft because some of it was from another POV. But I hope this will make the story tighter. I've missed the deadline of the market I was aiming for though, sadly.

I'm now going to visit all the blogs I've been neglecting (ie. all of them)

It's okay Annalisa. I have made a few submission oopsies in the past too. Don't let it get you down. They usually respond by email anyway. I think we get so nervous and worked up, we make mistakes we normally wouldn't. All the best with your submissions and rewriting your story.

Submissions are just the worst. And yes, you are in early days and it's only up from here. Do you ever enter writing contests? I find that those really destroy my confidence and keep me up at night--good times.

I too went away over the weekend! Just me, my little tent and my tiny camera! I change passions when away - at home writing, away from home photography. I should have pictures of the ancient city of Salisbury and the Stonehenge stones on-blog tomorrow assuming that is I've sorted through all 300 images!

I know what you mean about being July already! Submitting is hard work, so many things to think about, I get a bit paranoid about doing it all wrong sometimes.Sounds like you have been productive with your writing while you wait to hear back though.

Best of luck with the querying! I know we've all heard stories of writers who landed agents on the first few tries, and that used to make me cringe every time I got a rejection. Now I get excited when I get rejections and think, "Hey! They read it and replied! At least it was legible."

Time may have slipped, but you seem to be getting a lot done. Good luck with editing the short stories and submitting your novel. I'm always terrified I'm going to leave out something important when submitting. Especially when so many short story markets have rules off the standard.

Best of luck with the subs. I haven't subbed for ages - I tell myself it's because I'm more likely to get somewhere in England, but it's also sheer funk. What I really want is for someone else to do it for me!

At least you've got plenty of new ideas. I think all my ideas sound daft when it's just a few words on a piece of paper. Interesting to revisit an older story too. I haven't really done that, but I guess if enough time passes you can come to it fresh. Good luck with the submissions!

Hi, Annalisa. I saw your comment on Joanne's blog. I've been neglecting your blog too. I'm sorry about that. And where did July go? My goodness. Sometimes it feels like we awake running to catch up with time. On a happier note, that's a very pretty bridge scene. Glad you get to enjoy it!

It's so easy to lose touch with blogs, or just let them pass you by, isn't it? July has been ridiculously fast. There were so many things I wanted to do this year, but I'm barely keeping up! Thanks for visiting :-)

I'm glad that you've been writing a lot of short stories. Even though they need more work, it's great that you've been writing. Don't let your mishap with forgetting contact info upset out too much. I've made bigger boo-boos when emailing agents. I wish you all the best!

No, the missing contact info was more a case of 'oh, you silly bint'. He replied. He passed. But at least the contact info wasn't of huge importance. I do like to present myself as professional, though.

I'm enjoying writing 'rubbish' at the moment... just getting stuff down on paper without editing or self-critiquing as I go. It's liberating.